Contested Reproduction: Genetic Technologies, Religion, and Public Debate - Hardcover

Evans, John H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226222659 ISBN 13: 9780226222653

Verlag: University of Chicago Press, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Scientific breakthroughs have led us to a point where soon we will be able to make specific choices about the genetic makeup of our offspring. In fact, this reality has arrived—and it is only a matter of time before the technology becomes widespread.

Much like past arguments about stem-cell research, the coming debate over these reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs) will be both political and, for many people, religious. In order to understand how the debate will play out in the United States, John H. Evans conducted the first in-depth study of the claims made about RGTs by religious people from across the political spectrum, and Contested Reproduction is the stimulating result.

Some of the opinions Evans documents are familiar, but others—such as the idea that certain genetic conditions produce a “meaningful suffering” that is, ultimately, desirable—provide a fascinating glimpse of religious reactions to cutting-edge science. Not surprisingly, Evans discovers that for many people opinion on the issue closely relates to their feelings about abortion, but he also finds a shared moral language that offers a way around the unproductive polarization of the abortion debate and other culture-war concerns. Admirably evenhanded, Contested Reproduction is a prescient, profound look into the future of a hot-button issue.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

John H. Evans is professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego, and the author of Playing God? Human Genetic Engineering and the Rationalization of Public Bioethical Debate, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

John H. Evans is professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego, and the author of Playing God? Human Genetic Engineering and the Rationalization of Public Bioethical Debate, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

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Contested Reproduction

Genetic Technologies, Religion, and Public DebateBy JOHN H. EVANS

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Copyright © 2010 The University of Chicago
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-226-22265-3

Contents

Acknowledgments................................................................................................................ixCHAPTER 1. Introduction........................................................................................................1CHAPTER 2. The History of Abortion, Reproductive Genetic Technologies, and the Contemporary Public's Views.....................37CHAPTER 3. Talking about Embryonic Life........................................................................................56CHAPTER 4. Nature, God, Humanity, and Promethean Fatalism......................................................................69CHAPTER 5. Human Dignity and Equality of Treatment.............................................................................105CHAPTER 6. Meaningful Suffering................................................................................................127CHAPTER 7. Will Religious Discourse about Reproductive Genetic Technologies Limit Debate?......................................152CHAPTER 8. Conclusions.........................................................................................................171APPENDIX A. Methodological Appendix............................................................................................193APPENDIX B. Religious Respondent Interview Guide...............................................................................203Notes..........................................................................................................................215Works Cited....................................................................................................................251Index..........................................................................................................................263

Chapter One

Introduction

There is a revolution under way in how babies come into being that may change our entire society. Some commentators assume it will "only" create forms of social inequality built into our bodies. For example, a Republican operative, writing about Republican strategies toward societal inequality, mentions that "the trend to inequality will grow even stronger in the years ahead, if new genetic techniques offer those with sufficient resources the possibility of enhancing the intelligence, health, beauty and strength of children in the womb." Some make stronger claims about this revolution, such as that it will change our ideas about what it means to be human and result in the creation of a posthuman species. This is all because new procedures that I will call reproductive genetic technologies (RGTs) allow parents to influence the genetic qualities of their offspring more precisely than through "normal" fertilization by a sperm and an egg after sex. Among the currently possible and potential technologies are genetic carrier screening, fetal testing followed by abortion, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, sex-determining sperm sorting, human genetic engineering, and reproductive cloning.

I will briefly explain these technologies with an example. Imagine a couple who are both carriers of the Tay-Sachs gene, and they want to ensure that their offspring do not have this gene. (Tay-Sachs is a genetic disorder that causes the destruction of a child's central nervous system by the time the child is five years old.) Choosing one of the simplest technologies, genetic carrier screening, the couple could find out whether they are carriers for the Tay-Sachs gene, before deciding to try to have children. If carriers, they could adopt instead of having biologically related children. Alternatively, the woman could become pregnant and then have fetal testing through amniocentesis to determine whether the fetus has the trait and then have an abortion if the fetus is afflicted with the disease. The woman could also use preimplantation genetic diagnosis by creating multiple embryos through in vitro fertilization and then have the embryos tested for the Tay-Sachs gene. Those embryos that express the Tay-Sachs trait would be discarded and one or more that either lack the gene or would only be a carrier would be implanted in her uterus. Another option in the future might be to simply replace the Tay-Sachs gene with a properly functioning gene in the sperm, egg, or early embryo through human genetic engineering, thus removing Tay-Sachs from the family tree forever. Finally, and equally futuristically, the parents could create an embryo that is a genetic clone of someone they know who does not have Tay-Sachs and bring that embryo to term. (For definitions of these technologies and acronyms, see table 1.)

The least controversial application of RGTs is to make sure that children do not have deadly childhood diseases like Tay-Sachs. But what about using the technologies to ensure that children do not have a gene that would make them slightly more susceptible to cancer as adults? Or to Alzheimer's disease when they are fifty years old? Or, to have children with blue eyes and blonde hair? Or, perhaps one day, using RGTs to make your children taller or more intelligent? These questions refer to a commonly used spectrum of applications of RGTs, with "health" applications on one end and "enhancements" on the other. A health application is one that ensures that the offspring has a normal state of health and fitness, lacking known diseases, disabilities, and impairments. An enhancement augments or improves the capabilities of the child. Each person will have a different notion of what is "normal," a "disease" or an "enhancement." What often matters in public debate, as well as in this book, is where an individual draws the line between health and enhancements.

Given that the same technologies can be used for both health and enhancement applications, it is easy to see why these technologies provoke controversy. The controversy partly derives from advocates of the extensive use of RGTs. For example, British bioethicist John Harris argues that "Darwinian evolution has taken millions of years to create human beings; the next phase of evolution, a phase I call 'enhancement evolution' could occur before the end of the century. The result may be the emergence of a new species that will initially live alongside us and eventually may entirely replace humankind." After noting that many of the technologies are in place for the emergence of the posthuman and talking of how humans in the future may use RGTs to genetically design their children to live longer and be resistant to disease, Harris writes that "the end of humanity then is not in itself a concern; making sure that those who replace us are better than we are is a huge and timely concern." Harris argues that it is often ethically obligatory to enhance our children through RGTs to make them less susceptible to disease, and it can be acceptable to make your children more intelligent. Harris is not some lonely crank, but an influential figure in these debates-influential enough to be a member of the British government's Human Genetics Commission. Moreover, his advocacy of evolving ourselves into a "better" species is increasingly shared by others in these debates.

This controversy will expand as more technologies become available and the genetic basis of more traits is better understood. Already, many of the technologies I discuss in this book are in use. For...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Chicago Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0226222659
• ISBN 13: 9780226222653
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 267
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Buchbär; info@buchbaer.de; ; Weberstr. 67; Osnabrück; 49084; Deutschland